Healthy UChicago

Welcome to Healthy UChicago, the site for the University of Chicago’s Campus Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). Please explore the information on this site to learn more about the CHNA process and how you can get involved to provide feedback and make an impact.

Campus Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)

The University of Chicago has launched a Campus Health Needs Assessment to identify both existing resources and opportunities for improvement around the health and wellness needs of UChicago students. The vision of this process is to achieve a thriving, healthy campus community that values the health and well-being of our students and supports them in their pursuit of academic excellence and lifelong positive impact. More details on this process can be found below.

CHNA details

What is a CHNA?

A campus health needs assessment is an assessment that identifies key health needs and issues of the campus community through systematic, comprehensive data collection and analysis.

What process will be used for the CHNA?

We will use the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP)[1] framework to conduct the CHNA. MAPP is a community-wide strategic planning process for improving public health that will be tailored to our campus community. MAPP was developed by the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) to respond to the needs of communities to improve public health practice. What makes MAPP unique is that it is a community-owned process that involves broad representation of the entire campus community and uses qualitative and quantitative data from four assessments to inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of strategic campus health improvement plans.

[1] National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO). (2013). Mobilizing for action through planning and partnerships (MAPP) user’s handbook.

Why will we conduct a CHNA?

While many surveys are done annually, they offer information from a specific point in time. The MAPP framework, through gathering both quantitative and qualitative information within four separate assessments, develops a collaborative look at the health and wellness needs of the entire campus community.

The MAPP framework will help our campus prioritize health issues, identify resources for addressing them and take collaborative action to improve conditions that support healthy living. Benefits of this process include the ability to:

Create a healthier campus and better quality of life

Increase knowledge of issues impacting our campus community

Anticipate and manage change more effectively

Create a stronger, collaborative infrastructure to support the campus community

Engage the campus and create campus ownership around the prioritized issues

Who should be involved?

In order for this process to be as comprehensive and collaborative as possible, input and participation is needed from diverse departments and individuals who work, learn and live within the campus community.

What does the process entail?

The CHNA will be led by the Health Promotion and Wellness department. The process will be completed within 12 months. Please refer to this link for a summary of each phase of the process.

Where are we in the process?

Currently, we are in the process of conducting the four assessments. For information on these assessments or what each phase entails, click here.

Want to make UChicago healthy?

Participate in an upcoming campus dialogue to share your feedback by clicking the button below.

How do you practice self-care?

Participate in our photovoice project so we can see how you practice self-care. Upload your photo to our social media or by emailing our listserv. Include a 1-3 sentence description of how your photo depicts self-care. Click here for more information on photovoice.